1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heat-transfer techniques. More specifically, the present invention relates to fluid-flow ports that reduce recirculation of heated air in computer systems.
2. Related Art
The computational performance provided by electronic devices has increased significantly in recent years. This has caused an increase in power consumption and associated heat generation in these devices. Consequently, it has become a considerable challenge to manage this ‘thermal load’ to maintain acceptable internal and external operational temperatures.
Portable devices, such as laptop computers (notebook PCs), cellular telephones, and personal digital assistants pose additional design constraints. In particular, size and weight limitations in such devices can make it difficult to achieve desired operational temperatures. For example, many laptop computers utilize cooling systems that include fans to pump heat out of the devices. Unfortunately, space restrictions often lead to partial blockages of the output vents of these fans. This results in increased backpressure, which diverts heated air to the bottom surface and the air input vents of the laptop computer. As a consequence, the bottom surface overheats, which is unpopular with consumers. In addition, heated air re-circulates into the input vents of the laptop computer, thereby reducing the efficiency of the cooling system and increasing the internal temperature.
Hence what is needed are cooling input and output vents for small, narrow, and/or restricted-space cooling systems that overcome the problems listed above.